Advaita Post #11 - 18 --- As long as a spirituual psth is not radical..


Volume No. 11-18 (November 15, 2010)

--- As long as a spiritual path is not radical, your situation remains unsatisfactory. Insofar as it is radical, it demands everything ---

11-18_hert

Fog, deer, self-being in non-duality

Text from Lalla (14th century, Kashmir)

I, Lalla, full of longing, eagerly set out,
The days and nights stretched while I sought,
Until I found the Lord within my own house,
Since then that star has never dimmed.

Sunken deep in thought I held my breath,
Until the truth revealed itself and the light kindled within.
The brilliance that illumines me, also radiates outward,
I will never release the truth that grasped me in the darkness.

He who thinks himself as one with another,
For whom day and night are identical,
He whose mind has transcended every duality,
Only such a one has recognized the supreme God.

He who has recognized the light that is active in mind and bliss,
Only he is redeemed in this life.
In the net of confusion, the eternally changing,
The fools make thousand of knots.
The rest of the text in Dutch can be found at: Lalla

*

From a letter

in response to an email about high tide

Every situation is a learning situation.
The high tide?

Humans are not separate from nature.
Nature doesn't allow herself endless restriction.
She shows from time to time, and increasingly in our own time, that human life is a part of her.
When people learn to grasp that, already or without an iron fist, it means that they become more modest.
This also means that they get a feeling for what is greater than the world of "we can control it", that there is an infinite greatness.
The self and that greatness are not separate: there is a non-duality.
When that insight comes, something important is learned.

*

Text

From a talk in Bruges on October 30, 2010
Notes from Danny

The path towards liberation is a path of increasing awareness. An increased awareness of that which you essentially are. It is an expansion of consciousness in the direction of your origin. It is a depth of self-being that you recognize as your authentic self. With that return, you have the feeling of being more yourself. When that recognition is complete, nothing else needs to happen.
That is the direct path. Sooner or later, it's about the direct path. It's the direct recognition of what you essentially are.

Insofar as the recognition isn't complete, there are indications.
If you feel that you're limited and you long for liberation from it, you will have to become aware of your limiting situation. Initially you should be aware of your own situation in which the limitation occurs. Look at where that limitation is, accept it and experience yourself as the more spacious observer.

As the awareness continues you will see that the restriction is caused by a particular attitude. Your attitude determines how you experience things. There are situations that are open and others that are more closed. The open or closed quality depends on your attitude. When you are aware of these possibilities, you can, from yourself as observer, choose to no longer dive into that restriction. You let the restriction go, so that you are no longer stuck in it. There is a shift from restriction to unrestriction. Limited forms come loose. You can experience, for example, that the body becomes fluid, that the bodily structures release. Be aware of it, experience it very concretely and confirm your own unrestriction.

Develop a consciousness that is as clear as possible. Within it you see everything clearly. The experiencing of self-being must be experienced concretely, including on the emotional level. It is a feeling consciousness. It's an aware feeling.

With a particular expansion, also take a look at how it's going with yourself. Are you still stuck somewhere and to what extent are you open? Confirm that very practically. Check to what extent there are still restrictions in the expansion. See if it can increase. Retreat from your limited being-consciousness. In your clarity of consciousness you easily notice where your restrictions are. These limitations can be subtle in nature and yet still strongly limit the self. Therefore stay very clear of your own situation.

Keep asking yourself what's going on with yourself. Be clear about your own situation. Old habits have the tendency to reassert themselves. Determine where you remain stuck on subtler levels. Then return towards the open infinite sphere in yourself. That's why, becoming aware of yourself is so important.

Always recognize anew the openness in yourself, also the joy. The expansion, which occurs whenever restriction gives way to unrestriction, is associated with joy. Being completely open brings joy and happiness along with it. When the recognition of being open is there, the joyful recognition is immediate.

When everything has become open, there is the great non-duality. Within it everything is present and everything happens naturally without an ego-center. Just as breathing can quietly continue, talking with others can also continue. Conversing happens automatically without there being an 'I' who speaks.

You can't say anything about the Absolute, nevertheless there is an intimate knowledge of it. Therefore it's necessary that with all progress the strength of the clarity continues. At a certain point the usual way of knowing falls away and you feel as though you have entered into a cloud of ignorance. Then it's important to stay there in clarity. Then another kind of knowing arises.

It's also clear when you remain lucid while going to sleep, with the relaxation of the body and the mind while sinking into a dreamless sleep.
The falling away of mental activity doesn't mean that you can't remain aware.
The mind is blank while you remain aware. You are clearly aware of  the blank state.
You are aware of your empty mind. You arrive home to the Inexpressible, while you are aware of the groundless Openness.

Advaita is a mystical path of the radical variety. Becoming more clearly aware internally, in which you continually confirm yourself, continues through to the end. In the increased awareness you see through your identifications and potential pitfalls on increasingly subtler levels and you remain with your essential. From higher levels of awareness you immediately see through all beautiful images and symbols. If you can remain with your essence the process goes quickly. Then there is an immediate and total enlightenment. Advaita is a radical form of mysticism. It is so radical that the most subtle attachments become visible and disappear. Then you clearly see that the Original has always already been there.

As long as a spiritual path is not radical, your situation remains unsatisfactory. Insofar as it is radical, it demands everything.

*


A warm greeting to all,


Douwe Tiemersma



Er is geen tweeheid

als je ontspannen bent
in zelf-bewustzijn
is dat duidelijk.


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Boeken

Douwe schreef en redigeerde gedurende zijn leven boeken. Via onze uitgeverij zijn deze nog verkrijgbaar.

Bekijk het aanbod